Yes and we should be grateful that is not something like a few years ago like Smallpox and deadly Marburg virus similar to Ebola in that both can cause hemorrhagic fever, meaning that infected people develop high fevers and bleeding throughout the body that can lead to shock, organ failure and death.

Originally Posted by: Polar Low 

Thank goodness for those prevailing south westerlies.

Originally Posted by: westv 

I think HIV is one of the worst viruses: the very slow onset of symptoms resulted in quite significant infection levels. Ebola is horrendous in terms of what it does to the human body.

As I said a few days ago these outbreaks are occurring with increasing regularity. SARS, MERS, Bird flu, Swine flu, Ebola, Zika, HIV.

It’s a constant battle and likely to get worse as population continues to rise.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

Just been looking at the latest figures for global spread - you only have to call in to Milan to catch it and new cases in South America are pointing back to France, so France is on the same road as Italy. New travel advice from FCO required by tomorrow at the latest.

Originally Posted by: Maunder Minimum 

I think HIV is one of the worst viruses: the very slow onset of symptoms resulted in quite significant infection levels. Ebola is horrendous in terms of what it does to the human body.

As I said a few days ago these outbreaks are occurring with increasing regularity. SARS, MERS, Bird flu, Swine flu, Ebola, Zika, HIV.

It’s a constant battle and likely to get worse as population continues to rise.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

In many ways the battle with HIV is being won, thankfully. 

With effective treatment you now have a normal life expectancy, and with a zero viral load it is virtually impossible to transmit the virus to others. 

I know a number of people who are HIV+ and they live completely normal lives, are on one pill a day, and are completely healthy. 

The problems are of course in areas where effective treatment isn’t available. 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

It's a tricky situation and just thinking about my own school, we have many more staff than mainstream primaries and obviously much fewer children. Whenever an illness does the rounds it sweeps through school - before Christmas we had nearly half of the school off sick with a combination of flu and norovirus. 

Most of our children have no understanding of hygiene issues and at the same time most of them require much more physical contact than would be seen in a mainstream school. Most of our kids can't transition from one place to another without holding hands, they can bite, scratch, kick, spit in your face, cough and sneeze all over you, climb on you, many are still in nappies etc.

At the same time on one of our two sites there is a section of school where many of the children have underlying health issue and these children mix freely with others when not in class. Maybe he sensible thing would be to close the school but then what would the parents do? 

Do we wait till we have a confirmed case, do we carry on till we drop. I have no idea what's for the best. 

Originally Posted by: Northern Sky 

Marburg is deadly Peter trust me the development of a USSR  cold war MARV biological weapon had reached advanced stages. Independent confirmation for this claim is lacking. At least one laboratory accident with MARV, resulting in the death of Koltsovo researcher Nikolai Ustinov, occurred during the Cold War in the Soviet Union.

our generation has been lucky.

Originally Posted by: Polar Low 

It’s a very tricky one to call in general but more so in your situation and I don’t envy your position.  Unfortunately a one size solution doesn’t fit all and doesn’t account for special circumstances.  It’s certainly a dilemma!

Originally Posted by: Caz 

Seems the BBC are reporting another cruise ship being refused entry to dock.

Why are cruises still being allowed. You’d be mad to go on one at the moment.

Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013 

Yes, I’m aware of the effective treatments now - but it’s another disease that’s taken decades to bring under control and consumed a lot of resources and killed a lot of people along the way.

The story of the jump of HIV into humans is an interesting one with similarities to the Ebola story - with both originating in equatorial Africa.

Originally Posted by: Gandalf The White 

I completely agree with this. All cruises should be stopped, no matter where in the world they are, for the time being until such times as this coronavirus is properly under control irrespective of how long that takes.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

Agreed.

It must have been an absolutely terrifying time during the 80’s, especially for already marginalised groups such as gay men and people from sub-Saharan Africa. 

Watching your friends die one by one from a mystery virus which was asymptomatic for years and years. Awful. 

HIV when it first surfaced was absolutely horrendous. I count myself very lucky. 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

Seems the BBC are reporting another cruise ship being refused entry to dock.

Why are cruises still being allowed. You’d be mad to go on one at the moment.

Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013 

I might be wrong, but wasn't it HIV that Freddie Mercury died from?

Such a tragedy at too young an age.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

I might be wrong, but wasn't it HIV that Freddie Mercury died from?

Such a tragedy at too young an age.

Originally Posted by: David M Porter 

He died of AIDS which is what untreated HIV develops into if left unnoticed. 

So many people carried HIV and had absolutely no idea. As Gandalf says, an awful, awful virus. Most people get a flu-like illness as a warning about 2 weeks into the infection but it’s no guarantee, and it can easily be mistaken for something else. 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

He died of AIDS which is what untreated HIV develops into if left unnoticed. 

So many people carried HIV and had absolutely no idea. As Gandalf says, an awful, awful virus. Most people get a flu-like illness as a warning about 2 weeks into the infection but it’s no guarantee, and it can easily be mistaken for something else. 

Originally Posted by: Joe Bloggs 

Yes, the flu like illness happened to me. I remember it like it was yesterday. It’s was horrible, because something happened 2-3 months prior in 2003 where I was at risk. 

I knew immediately I had it. It took me from April to August go and tested as I was so frightened. Ironically in 2003 while the treatment was good, you still felt it could kill you. Now, as you said Joe you can lead a very normal life - I am still on two tablets once a day. And now you can’t pass it if undetectable. 

Originally Posted by: Heavy Weather 2013 

Its baffling

Why isn't there panic buying on boxes of tissues? Why toilet roll? It isn't a diahorrea bug. 

Originally Posted by: KevBrads1